What does κινέω (kinéō) mean in the Bible?
The Greek verb kineo means to move, set in motion, stir up, shake, or remove. Paul uses it in Athens when confessing that human beings live and move in God.
Greek · G2795
κινέω
To stir (transitively), literally or figuratively
Reading a lexicon entry
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κινέωG2795
Pronunciationkinéō
What does κινέω (kinéō) mean in the Bible?
The Greek verb kineo means to move, set in motion, stir up, shake, or remove. Paul uses it in Athens when confessing that human beings live and move in God.
Reader summary
Full entry for κινέω (G2795) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2795?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include shaking (2), move (1), remove (1), stirring up (1), to move (1).
Where does κινέω (kinéō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 23:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), Matthew (2), Revelation (2), Mark (1).
What This Word Actually Means
The Greek verb kineo means to move, set in motion, stir up, shake, or remove. Paul uses it in Athens when confessing that human beings live and move in God. Narratives use it for a city stirred into commotion and for an agitator accused of stirring unrest. At the crucifixion, passersby move or shake their heads in mockery. Jesus condemns teachers who load burdens on others without moving them even with a finger.
Revelation warns that a lampstand may be removed if a church refuses repentance. These scenes share vocabulary of motion but not one theology of change. Movement can describe creaturely dependence, public disorder, contemptuous gesture, refused assistance, or judicial removal. The verb does not prove that emotional intensity is the Spirit's movement, that social disruption is always righteous, or that stability is always faithfulness.
Responsible teaching identifies what moves, who causes it, and what the movement accomplishes. It protects people from crowd manipulation, political agitation, burdensome leadership, and predictions that every institutional change is divine judgment.
How the Bible Uses It
Kineo describes creaturely movement, urban agitation, mocking head movement, refusal to help with burdens, and threatened removal. Agent, object, and result determine the force of each occurrence.
- Acts.17.28
‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’
Paul tells the Athenian audience that in God people live, move, and exist while confronting idolatry.
- Acts.21.30
The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
The whole city is stirred and people rush together as Paul is seized and dragged from the temple.
- Acts.24.5
We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
Paul's accuser alleges that he stirs up riots among Jews throughout the Roman world.
- Mark.15.29
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
People passing the crucified Jesus insult Him while shaking their heads and repeating a charge.
- Matt.23.4
They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Jesus condemns leaders who load heavy burdens on others yet will not move them with a finger.
- Rev.2.5
Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
The risen Jesus warns Ephesus to remember, repent, and return or its lampstand will be removed.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itshaking2×Matthew 27:39, Mark 15:29
move1×Acts 17:28
remove1×Revelation 2:5
stirring up1×Acts 24:5
to move1×Matthew 23:4
was moved1×Revelation 6:14
was stirred up1×Acts 21:30
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 23:4κινῆσαιtoto moveVerb - Aorist Infinitive ActiveMatthew 27:39κινοῦντεςtoshakingVerb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine PluralMark 15:29κινοῦντεςtoshakingVerb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine PluralActs 17:28κινούμεθαtomoveVerb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 1st Person PluralActs 21:30Ἐκινήθηtowas stirred upVerb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person SingularActs 24:5κινοῦνταtostirring upVerb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Masculine SingularRevelation 2:5κινήσωtoremoveVerb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person SingularRevelation 6:14ἐκινήθησανtowas movedVerb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 23:4
Aligned rows8
Books represented4
Matthew2Mark1Acts3Revelation2
Source forms
κινοῦντες2xkinountesMatthew 27:39, Mark 15:29
Ἐκινήθη1xEkinēthēActs 21:30
ἐκινήθησαν1xekinēthēsanRevelation 6:14
κινῆσαι1xkinēsaiMatthew 23:4
κινήσω1xkinēsōRevelation 2:5
κινούμεθα1xkinoumethaActs 17:28
κινοῦντα1xkinountaActs 24:5
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural2xMatthew 27:39, Mark 15:29
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural1xRevelation 6:14
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular1xActs 21:30
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active1xMatthew 23:4
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular1xRevelation 2:5
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 1st Person Plural1xActs 17:28
Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Singular1xActs 24:5
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Large gatherings need truthful communication, safe crowd procedures, accessible exits, and leaders who do not exploit fear or excitement.
- Communal reform should reduce unjust burdens through accountable action, not merely use movement language to brand all resistance or change.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that visible movement, shaking, falling, excitement, or disruption necessarily proves divine activity.
- Do not claim that every accusation of stirring trouble identifies the accused as either guilty or righteous.
- Do not claim that moving or removing an institution, practice, or leader is automatically fulfillment of Revelation 2:5.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To move physically or to agitate emotionally; often used for stirring up trouble or unrest.
Strong'sG2795
Lexical occurrences8 versesGreek text appearances8 timesWord forms3 forms8 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
to stir (transitively), literally or figuratively
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 23:4Verb Aorist Active Infinitive
κινῆσαιkinhsai
I move, stir, excite
Read verseMatthew 27:39Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
κινοῦντεςkinountev
I move, stir, excite
Read verseMark 15:29Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
κινοῦντεςkinountev
I move, stir, excite
Read verseActs 17:28Verb First Person Plural Present Passive Indicative
κινούμεθαkinoumeqa
I move, stir, excite
Read verseActs 21:30Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Passive Indicative
ἐκινήθηekinhqh
I move, stir, excite
Read verseActs 24:5Verb Present Active Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
κινοῦνταkinounta
I move, stir, excite
Read verseRevelation 2:5Verb First Person Singular Future Active Indicative
κινήσωkinhsw
I move, stir, excite
Read verseRevelation 6:14Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Passive Indicative
ἐκινήθησαν.ekinhqhsan
I move, stir, excite
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups3Aligned forms8TensesPresent, Aorist, FutureVoicesActive, Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality3×
Present ActiveMatt 27:39 · Mark 15:29 · Acts 24:53×
Infinitiveverbal noun — the action in abstract1×
Aorist ActiveMatt 23:41×
Indicativestates a fact or reality4×
Aorist PassiveActs 21:30 · Rev 6:142×
Present PassiveActs 17:281×
Future ActiveRev 2:51×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 7 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist3present3future1
Voice
active5passive2
Mood
indicative3participle3infinitive1
NT Occurrences
Matthew 23:4κινῆσαιaorist active infinitiveinfinitiveMatthew 27:39κινοῦντεςpresent active participleparticipleMark 15:29κινοῦντεςpresent active participleparticipleActs 21:30ἐκινήθηaorist passive indicativecompletedActs 24:5κινοῦνταpresent active participleparticipleRevelation 2:5κινήσωfuture active indicativeprospectiveRevelation 6:14ἐκινήθησανaorist passive indicativecompleted
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Kineo prevents teachers from treating movement itself as proof of God. In Athens, Paul locates all creaturely life and movement in God while challenging idolatrous conceptions; the statement is not a technique for identifying divine impulses. Acts also shows a city moved into dangerous commotion and records an accusation that Paul incites unrest, requiring readers to distinguish narrated events from an opponent's allegation.
At the cross, moving heads becomes embodied mockery. In Matthew 23, the smallest imagined movement of a finger exposes leaders who impose weight without helping people carry it. Revelation's threatened removal concerns a named church called to remember and repent; it does not let outsiders announce the spiritual extinction of every changing congregation. Faithful teaching asks whether movement serves truth, mercy, repentance, coercion, contempt, or violence.
It welcomes faithful change and practical help while testing crowd emotion and accusations carefully. Leaders must not stir people through misinformation or demand burdens they will not share. Communities may change structure without abandoning Christ, and apparent stability may conceal refusal to repent. The verb names motion; the passage judges it.
Anchor passage
Matt.23.4
Doctrinal connections
- Human life and movement remain dependent on the Creator whom no handmade image can contain.
- A crowd's rapid movement can magnify rumor, fear, and violence rather than reveal truth.
- Legal accusation must be distinguished from established fact even when it uses morally charged language.
- Mocking gestures at the cross reveal contempt through embodied action against the suffering Jesus.
- Jesus condemns religious authority that imposes heavy obligations while refusing practical assistance.
- The risen Christ calls a specific church to remembered love and repentance under threatened removal.
Kineo is a Greek verb for causing or undergoing movement, including stirring, shaking, and removing. Direct objects, passive or active voice, bodily gesture, and social setting distinguish ordinary motion from agitation, assistance, and displacement.
From Old to New Testament
Biblical Hebrew and Greek use many distinct verbs for moving, shaking, stirring, removing, and traveling. Canonical themes of God's presence, repentance, and steadfastness should respect those lexical distinctions rather than turn every physical or social movement into one sign.